The Tray

from 19 Varieties of Gazelle by Naomi Shihab Nye

Even on a sorrowing day

the little white cups without handles

would appear

filled with steaming hot tea

in a circle on the tray,

and whatever we were able

to say or not say,

the tray would be passed,

we would sip in silence,

it was another way

lips could be speaking together,

opening on the hot rim,

swallowing in unison.

Radiation Burns=Not Pretty

The Radioactive Boy Scout by Ken Silverstein

"...David's ambitions were becoming increasingly grand--and reckless.  No longer would nuclear models built from marshmallows, pill bottles, and Ping-Pong balls satisfy.  As Barbara Auito, the scoutmaster's wife and Troop 371's treasurer, later put it: 'The typical kid [interested in nuclear energy] would have gone to a doctor's office and asked about the X-ray machine.  Dave had to go out and try to build a reactor.'" (114)

For an update on what David Hahn is doing now, check out: http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2007/08/meet-david-hahn.html

(But beware--semi-gruesome facial burns caused by radiation ahead!)

Seeds

from 19 Varieties of Gazelle by Naomi Shihab Nye

"A Single Slice Reveals Them"

An apple on the table

hides its seeds

so neatly

under seamless skin.

But we talk and talk and talk

to let somebody

in.

A light at the end of the tunnel

This semester my reading life has been consumed by books that I HAVE to read. Which is fine--most of them I really enjoyed. But there's nothing quite like finding a book that you WANT to read and reading it, without worrying about finishing by a certain date or leading the book discussion that week. So, without any further hesitation, here are the books that I am looking forward to reading once I scrape together a bit of free time:

• Disquiet by Julie Leigh
• What Happened to Anna K. by Irina Reyn
• The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey
• The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• College Girl by Patricia Weitz
• Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies

the....end.....is....almost....here....!

Rabbits, Tigers, and Mice--oh my!

A random sampling of the books that had an impact on me as a teenager, in no particular order:

• Watership Down by Richard Adams
  
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon 
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• The Hours by Michael Cunningham
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Fearless (Francine Pascal) and Everworld (K.A. Applegate) series (don't judge!)

Sadly, I don't remember a lot of the books I read.  I wish I would've kept a list of the all the books I've ever read.  I'm thinking I should start one now...

Unbearable

Sold by Patricia McCormick

"Men come.

They crush my bones with their weight.

They split me open.

Then they disappear.

I cannot tell which of the things they do to me are real,

and which are nightmares

I decide to think that it is all a nightmare.

Because if what is happening is real,

it is unbearable."

First the colors

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

"I could introduce myself properly, but it's really not necessary.  You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables.  It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible.  Your soul will be in my arms.  A color will be perched on my shoulder.  I will carry you gently away.  

At that moment, you will be lying there (I rarely find people standing up).  You will be caked in your own body.  There might be a discovery; a scream will dribble down the air.  The only sound I'll hear after that will be my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, of my footsteps." (4)